Harker says kairos looks like this:

So we saysay kairos
looks like this:

Unlike Harker’s visualization of kairos in which kairos seems isolated, static, and prescribed, kairos has become an everytime in an everyspace, accessible beyond privileged Jedis who were the only ones able to tap into the “Jedi Network System” (JNS). Kairotic opportunities, in other words and like the Force, are now everywhere and everytime.

Rather than thinking of kairos as a discrete entity, think of it more like this: “The Force [kairos] is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” In other words, kairos is the where and when a Rheti logoses, ethoses, and pathoses around.

Perhaps, we are being a little dramatic. It isn’t as though using #kairos will result in Jedi-like telekinetic or precognitive abilities. Paying attention to the power of #kairos, however, can have profound effects on the ways rhetors engage with and understand communication and harness its “Force” or power. In what follows we ask you to “learn the ways of the #kairos” and enjoy our troping around kairotically with Star Wars as a way to describe and communicate the significance of #kairos in our current techno-rhetorical moment.

Episode I: A New Kairos

The way we communicate today is altering the way people pay attention—which means we need to explore and understand how to train attention now, so that we, not our devices, control the shape of this alteration in the future (Rheti Rheingold 14–15).

We feel ya, Rheti Rheingold.
Your theory applies to the Jedi. Jedi (Rheti) training is connected to Kairos training. Training attention means training one to be kairotic—to use the Force propitiously in the right time and place.

You know, feel those midiclorians, learn to trust those instincts, focus your attention, and make your next rhetorical move and be propitious in space and time. All that advice is pretty good. It’s about understanding kairos and being a good Rheti.

It's helpful to think about kairos in two ways.

invented kairos

It’s when we create a website, a Twitter, a FB, a Tumblr, a Pinterest, for the Muhlhauser or Blouke or Schafer brand—we create opportunities for kairos, to be timely, to be become part of a medium, begin communicating.

situated kairos

Pre-existing times and spaces for “right” or “propitious” communication.

tbt situated kairos

It's when we follow the cultures of use in social media—"The conventions, norms and values for using a particular tool that grow up among a particular group of users" (Jones and Hafner 193).

well, so what?

It's the economy, Jar Jar! The ATTENTION economy. Value in the attention economy is dependent on #kairos, and wealth can be built in this economy by utilizing situated and invented kairos thoughtfully. In digital spaces users are asked to give their attention to numerous sources, but only some of these bids result in a transaction. Maximizing a rhetor’s effectiveness through awareness of various forms of time and place—in online and digital spaces—means that we’re engaging in an attention economy that depends on kairos. We see, therefore, online and digital spaces as existing within a #Kairos Economy.

Episode II: Accessibility of the Clones

We believe in the power of accessibility

Online, accessibility “means that people with disabilites can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web” (“Introduction to Accessibility”).

it's ethical

A Rheti shows he/she cares about and is willing to accomodate audiences with diverse abilities and needs.

it's #kairotic

A Rheti is providing more opportunities to be every right place and every right time for audiences.

#kairos accessibility is more than that

It's also about taking advantage of the web's affordances and accommodating audiences' varied literacies, languages, reading practices, preferences, locations in space and time, desires, and motivations.

Be fluent in 6,000,000 forms of communication

Or, do what you can and present ideas in:

multiple ways (like an infographic and a "traditional" academic essay)

share ideas in multiple places at multiple times (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram before, during, and after "The Force Awakens" or any other Star Wars film or event)

it's ethical

A Rheti shows he/she cares about and is willing to accomodate audiences with diverse abilities and needs.

it's #kairotic

A Rheti is providing more opportunities to be every right place and every right time for audiences.

This kind of accessibility may take more knowledge and skill of different genres and technologies to create. However, these moves are worth it - they are #kairotic and ethical. By composing in multiple formats, a Rheti is being more cooperative with readers/audiences rather than being directive or prescriptive. Audience members are not clones of each other. Besides physiological differences, audience members have literacy differences. They are part of different discourse communities in which words have different connotations and denotations. For instance, “a tremor in the Force” means one thing to a Jedi and something quite different to a physicist (a related vein). And while we agree with the reasons to make web content accessible technically, we also feel there is a #kairotic benefit and ethic for accommodating readers and creating texts that are truly texts in the plural that pay attention to the accessibility of different literacies.

Episode III: Return of the Authdi

Authdi is our term for participants in a #kairos economy

It's author + audience (yup, rhymes with Jedi)—is a different lens for taking into account the “new” relationship we have with authorship in digital media environments and observing how boundaries between the binaries of being an author and being an audience are blurring. And it's not like we didn't do it before there was digital media. Now it's easier to be authdi's who put things in a tangible form—see?

Instead of “produsers” or “prosumers” we like authdience

We don’t think those terms explain exactly what we do when we watch, comment, and play with Star Wars in a #kairos economy where opportunities for being propitious in times and places are omnipresent and omniplace[nt].

Produser blurs the line between PROFESSIONAL and AMATEUR.

Prosumer blurs the line between CONSUMPTION and PRODUCITON.

Neither help us blur the line between AUTHOR and AUDIENCE.

Authors and audiences are more like curators and remixers of texts than “original” or “authentic” creators. Bahktin might put it like this: “Language has been completely taken over, shot through with intentions and accents…. Each word tastes of the context and contexts in which it has lived its socially charged life” (Bahktin qtd. in Jenkins 224). As Jenkins explains, “The finished text, then, (following its original meaning as something that has been woven together) represents an attempt to coordinate the diverse materials the writer has appropriated, to evoke or to erase previous meanings, to bestow coherence and consistency” (224). Authors, then, read to remix or weave.

whatta weave!

If a major goal of authdi is to enact change, get a message out, and connect with other authdis, then #kairos is vital. Rheti Rheingold makes the important point that “In previous eras, it may have been true that ‘it’s not what you know but who you know.’ Today, how you know who you know matters as much as who you know, and one of the most valuable traits a person could have in a twenty-first-century organization is a knack for knowing “who knows who knows what” (24). And, for us, with the amount of information vying for authdience attention, it’s really “who knows who knows what, where, and when.” It’s really about knowing how to be propitious during a time and a place.

Episode IV: The Phantom Veils

learn veilling for success in a #kairos economy

Rheti Rheingold’s point about a knack for knowing is connected to veils too. Because there is so much accessible information being produced in the digital realm, it becomes more important to know “who knows.” The “who’s who knower” or the person that knows knowers is in a sense a person who is relied on for kairos—for knowing what (or who) might be valuable at a time and in a place. So for us, as we previously mentioned, it’s really “who knows who knows what, where, and when.” It’s really about knowing how to be propitious during a time and a place. So there really is a knack for knowing when to know when to know what & where to know where to know what. Yoda, did we imitate just? Using veillances is a lens for sorting the “who’s who knowers” in a #kairos economy.

Got #FoMO?

We do and so do the Jedi. #FoMO is really a kairotic problem. It's a fear of missing #kairos or acting akairotically that happens when we aren't veilling well.

the veils

* Veillances aren’t on solid ground. Authdi shift between veils depending on how they may perceive themselves and their relation to others. And, depending on your point of view, one person's constraint might be another person's light saber—affordance.

surveillance

The veillance of an authority or power is
“Observation or recording by an entity in a position of power or authority over the subject of the veillance” (Mann).

examples

Jedis surveying the feelings of those who aren’t Jedi or don’t have Jedi powers.

Teachers assessing student work (tests, essays, homework, etc.).

Using an education platform’s—like Blackboard—metrics to see who’s accessing Blackboard, how and when.

Companies, governments, or individuals in a position of authority reading and evaluating web comments on a product, idea, blog, etc.

affordances

Allows authority to see what information is being viewed and responded to in terms of clicks, views, likes, people reached, and comments. Sorting and evaluating such information can be valuable in creating persuasive texts—i.e. style, delivery, arrangement, timing, and content—and includes collecting knowledge related to the metrics of what gets clicks and what gets read on the internet.

Allows authority to profile and sort individuals and make kairotic predictions about behavior. Sorting and predicting can include original posts, but information such as who connects, likes, retweets, or otherwise participates in forms of viralization and information-sharing, can be surveilled as well.

Enables authority to maintain reputation and remain an authority by allowing authorities to survey and respond to criticisms and/or misunderstandings.

constraints

Ethical considerations have to be acknowledged because surveillance allows authority to profile and sort individuals and make predictions about behavior, which can lead to stereotyping and, possibly, erroneous or dangerous assumptions about people.

The amount of data collected may make it difficult to tease out “knowledge” or meaning from noise.

Allows authority to make unfair judgments on the reputation of individuals.e

May result in repetition where style, delivery, arrangement, timing, and content become mundane. Informed “clickbait” stops working because of tunnel vision guided by big data.

What gets clicked or read isn’t necessarily quality content and may assume a more or less source-savvy audience.

sousveillance

Sousveillance is the “Observation or recording by an entity not in a position of power or
authority over the subject of the veillance” (Mann).

examples

Check out the kosmos web series for an exciting and intriguing take on the relationship between sousveillance and surveillance. The creators have coined the term “crowdviewing” to describe how the audience is responsible for “unlocking” episodes. The audience monitors the site along with the authors and helps distribute the content explicitly.

Becoming friends with authority figures in a field and “Liking” or reviewing comments and commenting on Facebook profiles and pages.

Commenting on a product, place, or service on Amazon, Yelp, or Angie’s List.

Monitoring what the surveyors are collecting.

affordances

Enables one to get a bead on authority and reputation of surveyors. By watching the watchers, one can get a sense of who knows who knows what.

Enables for curation of experts and analysis of what’s successful to those in power (e.g. experts in the field) and determine what’s current and what’s relevant in a discussion.

Provides opportunity for authdi to observe authority to ascertain holes, niches, angles, that haven’t been discovered so that he/she might develop an authority and reputation of his/her own and experiment with style, delivery, arrangement, timing, and content. This creates a sort of surveillance-sousveillance feedback loop.

Allows sousveyers to voice opinion, review, and possibly enhance reputation through contact with a surveyor.

constraints

It may not be possible to know everything that’s been collected about oneself or how it’s being done and, for many people, it isn't possible to authdi algorithms that generate one's own metrics.

Surveyors have power over sousveyors, and comments or critiques by souveyors may be ignored, deleted/silenced, or, in worst case scenarios, used to damage their reputations or ability to communicate (example: Facebook deleting accounts).

coveillance

Coveillance is “peer to peer” and occurs when “ordinary citizens engage in [monitoring] practices” on one another (Rainie and Wellman). Being a coveyor is important for observing what those around you are doing.

examples

Jedis feeling each others’ Forces (There's gotta be a better way to put this).

Students or instructors providing feedback to each other informally. ***The formal transforms this into surveillance (where consequences of feedback is a metric for grades, raises, tenure etc.).

Twitter backchannel conversations during a presentation by authdience members or those following the hashtag conversation.

Reading and evaluating comments, favorites, likes, and ratings of products or peer posts by “regular” people on Amazon, Angie’s List, and Yelp.

Watching Facebook Messenger and interpreting the meaning of the response time of knowing that the person you messaged has in fact seen your message.

Watching the “Activity” section of a co-written Google Doc and assessing who is participating and how much and is it on time and determining if it’s “time” for you to participate more.

affordances

Observe how peers are responding to authority in comments and ratings to make informed decisions. Monitoring what they are clicking, retweeting, sharing, and liking.

Learn about peers’ research, politics, etc. and locate colleagues, partners, and other authdi for networking.

From our experience, coveillance often results in what might be called “variety learning” where perspectives and information from alternative positions and surveyors can be discovered.

constraints

Peer comments may be limited or biased, especially if the sample is small. It may be difficult to find a more balanced perspective.

Can limit perspective by enabling one to generate his/her own filter bubble or algorithm in which authdience is not seeing varied perspectives on issues.

selfveillance

Selfveillance is a term coined by one of Paul’s new media writing students (Baumgardner). It refers to a meta-type of observation in which a person observes him/herself as an authdience.

examples

When Luke searches his feelings and evaluates himself and his connection to the Force.

When instructors evaluate their evaluations.

When individuals search back on Facebook timelines or Twitter feeds and evaluate their own posts and feedback they’ve received.

Using a FitBit or Apple Watch or other such gizmo to monitor movement or heart-rate and making behavior adjustments based on the reading.

Googling oneself and examining one’s digital footprint, reputation, and the news one is filtered. This might also be considered a form of sousveillance; however, because it is directed at oneself and not outward—where one might sousvey what Google collects in general—we’re putting it here. Selfveillance is specifically about monitoring one’s own online behavior and its interpretation.

affordances

Allows one to monitor and evaluate one’s own digital footprint and reputation.

Allows one to make a sort of reputation plan—a plan that helps move the good
information to the top of search engine hits and the less pertinent or “bad” information to the bottom by adding positive content and/or deleting negative content.

Content is remembered. There is a growing history of one’s successes and
failures at communication.

constraints

It is difficult and in some cases it may be impossible to delete slander or “bad” information since data miners (including popular social media platforms like Facebook) may never completely delete a post or a browser trail you’ve been on.

As mentioned in “affordances,” content is remembered. There is a growing history of one’s successes and failures at communication.

Because of how content may be remembered and changed, selfveillance might gaslight your own memory where you remember more synecdochally (more parts for whole or whole for parts). Go to “Like Me, Like Me Not” and click on the read petal for more about gasligting and the web

For us, it’s important to examine the rhetoric of different power positions afforded by veil analysis. Such analysis offers unique perspectives on communication and helps us understand how we may use a different communication strategy depending on this position. This is our introduction to this sort of analysis and we hope it inspires others to continue developing our ideas for increased rhetorical awareness and rhetorical practice.

The #kairos awakens

#kairos shares a lot of similarties with the Force but...

the analogy, thankfully, breaks down. As geeky and cool as it would be to have Jedi abilities (magical clairvoyance and telekinesis), we're happy to awaken kairos and leave the Force on the screen in the Star Wars universe.

we don't like that the Force is part of an elite Jedi club

Unlike with a #kairos economy, you can’t really join the club through research, practice, becoming an authdience, becoming a curator, and knowing who knows who knows what. Even special toothpaste won't help.

we don't like that the Force has one search engine

The Jedi only use one search engine, one data collector, an algorithm, and/or one social media platform—the Force. We mean the Force seems to be pretty biased doncha think? How can one #kairos when the possibilities of surveillance, sousveillance, coveillance, and even selfveillance are limited to one “technology.” So the Force is sort of an ultimate filter bubble.

we don't like that the Force is deterministic

We believe in authdiencing and the power of being a rhetor operating within constraints—be they the constraints of the Force, the media platform, or the veil. An authdi has agency both as an author and an audience to transform texts and make decisions about how to use information. Han Solo summarizes our belief well.

We think

We think it is important to think of ourselves as being in a #karios economy.

We think this is important because with all the information out there, rhetors need to be aware of when and where to be timely and placely to get their message out and to participate in a medium. Though a little dramatic, #karios is a way to think about Rheti Jenkin’s aphorism about media: If it doesn't spread, it's dead. And, again, to spread and live is to pay attention to #kairos, displaying a what at an important when and where.

We think examining veillances in a variety of forms can be good tools, lenses, “HO HO HO—Jedi mind tricks,” for living in an economy based on #kairos and considering the ethical dimensions of using these tools—i.e. how they work with other economies like the emerging attention (Lanham) and reputation economies (Fertik and Thompson).

We think this is important because it helps us use, see, and examine the Force that is social media.

We think it is important because it isn’t necessarily elite, we can see more varied perspectives, and, well, it may help us better imagine what it means to be an authdi.

So keep your smartphones by your side. These are the weapons of ominpresence and omniplaceness; these are the weapons of the authdi knight.

May the #kairos be with you!

Credits

Mainly Linguistic Text

Baumgardner, Amy. “Selfveillance.” Class discussion. Fall 2013.

Fertik, Michael, and David Thompson. The Reputation Economy : How To Optimise Your Digital Footprint In A World Where Your Reputation Is Your Most Valuable Asset. New York: Crown Business, 2015. Kindle file.

Star Wars drawings and remixes are based on “Vector Star Wars Symbols” by all-silhouettes.com or they come from Star Wars characters Paul traced from scenes or Paul drew except for the Millenium Falcon in the Twitter remix. The Millenium Falcon is a trace based on the icon by Sensible World from IconFinder.

"The Force" search engine is remixed from a screenshot of Google's homepage.